Dubai pupils prank the KHDA by making a fake holiday announcement

Pupils photoshop an announcement in an attempt to fool parents into thinking they had more days off for the Pope's visit

KHDA rebuke a fake announcement doctored by pupils who hoped to have more days off this week. 

Private school pupils in Dubai doctored an official announcement in an attempt to fool parents into thinking they had the whole week off – then gave the game away with their poor grasp of grammar.

Schools across the UAE were closed on Tuesday to mark Pope Francis’s historic first visit to the country.

But it seems the break was not long enough for pupils in Dubai, who made their own announcement masquerading as the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, or KHDA, which governs private schools in the emirate.

It read: “Following the announcement from the UAE Ministry of Education about all private schools in Dubai being closed on Tuesday Feb 5 there has been a following update for all private schools having the whole week off. Enjoy!”

KHDA, which branded ‘fake news’ in large red letters, circling the poor sentence construction, tweeted a picture of the announcement to clarify its position.

“While we appreciate the Photoshop skills of some [of] our students (though not their grammar, obvs), we’d like to confirm that schools are open on Wednesday & Thursday,” it wrote.

One mother took to the British Mums Dubai Facebook group seeking urgent clarification on Tuesday, captioning the post “Is it true????”

“It got me,” wrote one mum in reply.

It is not the first time the person in charge of the KHDA Twitter account has had some fun clarifying official school arrangements.

In November, during a particularly heavy downpour, it released a statement saying “There are no submarines but the school bus should be right at your doorstep tomorrow morning, unless your school tells you otherwise! Have a great day!”